YouTube videos are pulling in serious money

By eSchool News

December 11th, 2008

Making videos for YouTube, for three years a pastime for millions of web surfers, is now a way to make a living, reports the New York Times: One year after the online video powerhouse invited members to become "partners" and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the web site. For some, like Michael Buckley, the self-taught host of a celebrity chatter show, filming funny videos is now a full-time job. Buckley, 33, quit his day job in September after his online profits had greatly surpassed his salary as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company. His thrice-a-week online show "is silly," he said, but it has helped him escape his credit-card debt. Buckley was the part-time host of a weekly show on a Connecticut public-access channel in the summer of 2006 when his cousin started posting snippets of the show on YouTube. The comical rants about celebrities attracted online viewers, and before long Buckley was tailoring his segments, called "What the Buck?" for the web. Buckley knew the show was "only going to go so far on public access. But on YouTube," he said, "I’ve had 100 million views. It’s crazy." All he needed was a $2,000 Canon camera, a $6 piece of fabric for a backdrop, and a pair of work lights from Home Depot. Buckley is an example of the internet’s democratizing effect on publishing. Sites like YouTube allow anyone with a high-speed connection to find a fan following, simply by posting material and promoting it online…